1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a method and a device for embedded subscriber identity module (SIM) provisioning.
2. Description of the Related Art
Unlike conventional removable smart cards, such as a SIM card, a universal SIM (USIM) card, and a universal integrated circuit (IC) card (UICC), which can be removed installed into and removed from a terminal by a user, embedded smart carts, such as an embedded UICC (eUICC) card or an embedded SIM (eSIM) card (hereinafter, collectively referred to as an “eSIM”) are fixedly mounted in a terminal during manufacturing of the terminal, and may not be removed by a user.
An eSIM may allow a user of a terminal to subscribe to, change, or cancel a mobile communication service in an “over the air” (OTA) manner, without visiting a business agent of a mobile network operator (MNO).
Currently, an eSIM, which does not have any subscription information recorded therein, may be installed in an electronic device to be sold to a user. After purchasing the device, the user may then connect to a desired provider network and download a subscriber profile (e.g., an MNO profile) including subscription information onto the eSIM in an OTA manner. For example, the subscriber profile may be transmitted to the eSIM through servers, such as subscription manager data preparation (SM-DP) server and subscription manager-secure routing (SM-SR) server. Herein, a procedure for downloading and installing a subscriber profile on an eSIM may be referred to as a “provisioning procedure” or “provisioning”.
For OTA provisioning, before subscribing to a mobile communication service, an electronic device may connect to a mobile communication network to download a subscriber profile. In general, a communication provider sells an electronic device to a user, where the electronic device includes an eSIM with a provisioning profile already stored therein. Using the provisioning profile the electronic device can connect to a mobile communication network, even before first downloading a subscriber profile. Basically, the electronic device connects to the mobile communication network using the provisioning profile, and then downloads and installs a first subscriber profile.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional OTA provisioning process.
Referring to FIG. 1, a user who has purchased an electronic device equipped with an eSIM subscribes to a mobile communication service through an MNO in operation 110. In operation 120, the MNO transmits information for an SM-DP to generate a subscriber profile for the user, to the SM-DP. For example, the transmitted may include subscription information, an eUICC-ID (EID), an integrated circuit card ID (ICCID), an SM-SR ID (SRID), etc.
In operation 130, the SM-DP generates and encrypts a subscriber profile, based on the received information.
In operation 140, the SM-DP transmits the encrypted subscriber profile to the SM-SR. For example, the SM-DP may establish a secure transmission (or transport) channel through authentication with the SM-SR.
In operation 150, the SM-SR receives the encrypted subscriber profile from the SM-DP, triggers an OTA session 10 through a provisioning profile included in the eSIM of the electronic device purchased by the user, and transmits the encrypted subscriber profile to the eSIM of the electronic device through the OTA session 10. In operation 160, the electronic device receives and installs a subscriber profile on the eSIM, using the encrypted subscriber profile.
In operation 170, the electronic device uses a mobile communication service through a network 20, which the MNO provides, based on the installed subscriber profile.
When using the above-described provisioning procedure, it can take a markedly long time (e.g., a minute unit) for the SM-DP to transmit a plurality of application protocol data units (APDUs) to the electronic device in the OTA session 10. Further, the above-described provisioning may be unsuitable for installing or changing a profile (a subscriber profile or a provisioning profile) in bulk by an electronic device manufacturer.